Grand Comics Database

The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information that users can easily understand and contribute to. The GCD project is cataloging information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful to the comic book reader, comic collector, fan, and scholar. The GCD is a nonprofit organization incorporated in Arkansas.

One of the earliest published catalogs of comic books appeared in the 1960s, when Dr. Jerry Bails and Howard Keltner put together some projects to catalog the comic books of the "Golden Age." These efforts were Dr. Bails' The Collector's Guide to the First Heroic Age of Comics, and Howard Keltner's Index to Golden Age Comic Books, and their collaboration on The Authoritative Index to DC Comics. The next big step in organizing data about comic books was Robert Overstreet's Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, which is still being published. This guide is sometimes referred to as the first best attempt to list factual information beyond the superhero comics. It was likely the first catalog to get widespread distribution. Today there are several other comic book price guides.

In 1978, the GCD's immediate predecessor, APA-I (Amateur Press Alliance for Indexing) was formed by a few fans who were interested in exchanging information on comic books in index form. These people were generally interested in either one of two things — either following the plot threads and continuity of the stories, or the creator credits. APA-I is also still running, as a paper-based index. The organization publishes a quarterly magazine. APA-I members have gathered editorial records and conducted interviews with comic book professionals, to add to the information that could be gleaned from the books themselves.

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